A Frankfurt Airport worker has died of malaria after a rare outbreak led to six employees contracting the serious infection spread by mosquitoes. The Robert Koch Institute - a German federal government agency and research institute for disease control and public health - said malaria in Germany almost exclusively affects long-haul travellers who were infected in malaria-endemic areas, and that malaria transmitted within a German airport is rare. “The lack of a travel history can lead to a delayed diagnosis. A delayed diagnosis increases the risk of a severe course of the diseases,” the institute said. The last case of airport malaria was in 2023 also at Frankfurt Airport, it added.
6 workers getting infected from one plane seems pretty remarkable. Does that mean multiple mosquitos were on it, or just one that bit them all? I suppose they or it could have travelled in the hold, assuming that remains pressurised for the flight.
No, they bite multiple times, which is how the malaria parasite (plasmodium) gets transmitted from infected people. Their life cycle involves several weeks in a mosquito, so it’s possible to get sick, get treated, recover, and be reinfected by descendants of the parasites you had.
6 workers getting infected from one plane seems pretty remarkable. Does that mean multiple mosquitos were on it, or just one that bit them all? I suppose they or it could have travelled in the hold, assuming that remains pressurised for the flight.
Pretty sure most mosquitoes bite once, then lay eggs. Must have been multiple.
No, they bite multiple times, which is how the malaria parasite (plasmodium) gets transmitted from infected people. Their life cycle involves several weeks in a mosquito, so it’s possible to get sick, get treated, recover, and be reinfected by descendants of the parasites you had.